Down (adverb / preposition) — towards a lower position or level; along or further from a place: "She walked down the stairs."
Down (adjective) — not working or functioning; feeling sad or unhappy: "The website is down." / "I've been feeling a bit down lately."
Down (verb) — to knock to the ground; to swallow quickly: "He downed his coffee and left."
Down (noun) — a period of unhappiness or difficulty; also the soft fine feathers of a bird: "Everyone has their ups and downs."
What Does Down Mean?
Down comes from Old English adune, a contraction of of dune meaning "off the hill" or "from the hill". This original meaning of moving from a higher to a lower point is still the core sense of the word. The noun sense (soft feathers) is unrelated in origin — it comes from Old Norse dunn.
In modern English, down is one of the most frequent words in the language and one of the most grammatically flexible. As an adverb it shows direction or position: "Sit down", "prices went down". As a preposition it introduces a noun phrase: "down the road", "down the stairs". As an adjective it describes a system that is not working or a person who feels low. As a verb it describes a quick forceful action. And as a noun, downs (plural) refers to periods of difficulty in the common phrase ups and downs.
Perhaps most importantly for ESL learners, down forms the second element in dozens of essential phrasal verbs: write down, calm down, break down, let down, turn down. Mastering these combinations will significantly extend your spoken and written vocabulary.
Example Sentences
| Sentence | Level & Usage note |
|---|---|
| Write down any new words you hear in the conversation. | A2 — phrasal verb: write down |
| The children ran down the hill as fast as they could. | B1 — preposition showing direction |
| She felt quite down after she heard the news about the job interview. | B1 — adjective: feeling sad |
| The company's profits have gone down by twelve per cent this quarter. | B2 — adverb: decrease in amount |
| Every relationship has its ups and downs — the key is how you navigate the difficult moments together. | C1 — noun (plural): periods of difficulty |
Collocations with Down
| Collocation | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| write down | record something in writing | Write down the new vocabulary after each lesson. |
| calm down | become or make less upset or excited | Take a deep breath and try to calm down. |
| break down | stop functioning; become very upset | Our car broke down on the motorway. |
| let down | disappoint someone | I promised I wouldn't let you down this time. |
| turn down | refuse an offer; reduce volume or heat | She turned down the job offer. |
| cut down | reduce the amount of something | He's trying to cut down on sugar. |
| settle down | become calm; establish a stable life | After moving a lot, they finally settled down in Bristol. |
| slow down | reduce speed or pace | Please slow down — the road is wet. |
| ups and downs | a mixture of good and bad periods | Every career has its ups and downs. |
| down to | the responsibility of; reduced as far as | It's down to the manager to make the final decision. |
Usage Notes
- Direction vs. position: Use down for both movement ("go down the stairs") and static position in British English ("further down the page"). American English is similar but sometimes prefers downward for direction.
- Separable phrasal verbs: Most phrasal verbs with down are separable. When the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and down: "Write it down" — not "Write down it".
- Down as adjective (systems): In British English, saying a system or website is down is standard informal usage: "Sorry, the booking system is down at the moment."
- Down vs. downstairs: Use downstairs specifically for floors of a building. "She went downstairs" refers to a lower floor; "she went down" is more general.
Common Mistakes
Watch Out For
Write down it immediately so you don't forget.
Write it down immediately so you don't forget. (pronoun objects must come between verb and particle)
The temperature went down with five degrees.
The temperature went down by five degrees. (use by to show amount of decrease, not with)
She felt very down-hearted because she didn't pass the exam so she sat down on the floor and calmed down herself.
She felt very downhearted because she didn't pass the exam, so she sat on the floor and tried to calm down. (calm down is intransitive when the subject is the same person — no reflexive pronoun needed)
Etymology Note
The directional adverb and preposition down derives from Old English adune (“off the hill, downwards”), itself a reduction of of dune — literally “off the hill” (from dun, a hill). By the Middle English period it had been shortened to doun and eventually down. The unrelated noun down meaning soft feathers comes from Old Norse dunn. The verbal use (“to down tools”) is first recorded in the 19th century and is formed by conversion from the adverb — a very common word-formation pattern in English.